Tasso, maker of at-home blood sample collection systems, is launching the next generation of its devices that aim to support patients enrolled in clinical trials and simplify their participation in drug development.
The latest hardware for dried blood spot collection can also be employed in sports anti-doping testing, the company said.
Its Tile-T20 cartridge and the wearable Tasso Mini push-button lancet are designed to collect four precise blood samples at a specific volume to help biopharma researchers and drug developers chart the concentrations of their medications and establish the proper doses without forcing study participants to travel to a clinical site.
“For decades, blood collection has been mired in the status quo, requiring patients to commute to a lab and endure uncomfortable venipuncture or self-collect with painful finger sticks. As a result, clinical trials often face challenges with recruitment and retention due to the testing burden on patients,“ Tasso co-founder and CEO Ben Casavant told Fierce Medtech. “By making quality sample collection simple, convenient, and virtually painless, the industry can reduce barriers to clinical trial recruitment and drive compliance.“
Tasso previously obtained regulatory green lights in the U.S. and Europe for its Tasso Mini and Tasso+ systems, which attach to the upper arm and gently pull blood from the capillaries, including whole samples at larger liquid volumes that can be mailed to a lab for analysis.
The Fierce Medtech Fierce 15 winner’s CE marked Tile-T20 cartridge, for research use only within the U.S., provides redundant, 17.5-microliter samples of dried blood that can be shipped and stored at room temperature.
“Access to clinic sites can be difficult for many patients, especially for those without reliable transportation or living in rural areas. Unfortunately, access challenges often lead to recruitment and retention issues, ultimately delaying clinical trial timelines,” Erwin Berthier, Tasso's co-founder and chief technology officer, said in a statement. “This new technology has the potential to improve trial timelines and speed new therapies to patients in need.”